A slow, spiraling, topdown view looms over Audrey laid curled up in the center of a cold, dark room... her hands bound behind her back. Small goosebumps cover her entire hardened body as she freezes in her thin, white bra and panties. The dark, spacious holding area carries a chilling breeze that bares down on her petite body... thick condensation billows out of her mouth with each slow, heavy breath. A close-up of her raw, red ankles with dried blood caked on the restraints rest down by her bare feet.
The unknown series of events happening to her have caused a psychological break... ripping open the long closed gates of the past, as resisted traumas return with a vengeance.
Audrey lays helpless as her short, white hair recently soaked wet lays draped over her face... she stares at the dark, concrete slabbed wall in a trance while she softly sings to herself.
"A thing of beautyy.. i knoww... will never faade away, what you did to mee... I knoww"
A single tear runs down her cheek... her tranced facial expression doesn't change.
"What. you. did. to... me-" She whimpers... her voice cracking as the tears flow down her face... she recalls a memory:
An indoor explosion sends a huge plume of smoke and debris flying in through the window of a bullet ridden, apartment complex room. Audrey and Zaunya's mother quickly slam up against a wall to take cover inside as large caliber rounds effortlessly penetrate the thin walls. Shrouded in thick smoke and surrounded by chaos, various heavy boots are heard scrambling around the complex to the sound of booming gunfire as unknown voices scream out in pain and panic... tactics and marching orders being shouted. Zaunya's mom shifts her position and rests her back up against a shredded dresser as Audrey drops her gun and quickly takes cover next to her.
"WE HAVE TO STOP HERE! YOU'RE OVER-CLOCKING AND LOSING TOO MUCH BLOOD!!"
"So fuckin' PATCH ME UP THEN!!" Zaunya's mom shouts aggressively causing Audrey to quickly pull out suppressants and several tools. She begins to work on Zaunya's mom leaking excessive amounts of blood out of various wounds... gathered over the course of a brutal and extensive operation with impossible odds. Being a finely honed weapon of war, Zaunya's mother quickly barks into her comms to the support leader of the op.
= TELL THE UNIT TO GET READY TO MOVE! WE'RE DOING THE KILL SWEEP IN 3!!! =
"-This has gotta be the last offensive we do Zayta. We can't fucking keep. coming. out here like this!!" Audrey franticly shouts cracking her voice.
Zaunya's mother, Zayta breathing heavy.. stares deep into Audrey's eyes with an emotionless gaze... watching her quickly work on her. Audrey continues.
"Anytime you're still thinking of volunteering for shit like this think of your daughter huh? Understand me!?" She shouts frustrated... her adrenaline surging.
"My daughter..." Zayta mutters injured and exhausted.. sat up against the dresser, looking down. "They're... they're turning her into a weapon... there's... th... there's nothing i can do to stop it..." She exhales before pausing and slowing her breathing. "...I need your help Audrey."
"I won't BE ABLE to help you if we don't fucking make. it. out of here!! Hold this.." She demands causing Zayta to hold onto a length of synth gauze wrapped around her arm.
A brief pause allows the sounds of burning flames and gunfire to take over, Zayta continues to stare deep into Audrey's eyes... trying to catch her breath through heavy combat wounds... she speaks in a softened tone.
"We kill for these corpos... the people we're killing... I don't know who they are... or what they've even done... but... you can see... you can see to them... it's worth fighting and dying for."
Audrey continues to franticly work on Zayta. Saying nothing... Zayta continues.
"...What do we fight and die for Audrey."
Audrey half shakes her head with pursed lips... continuing to franticly work on Zayta... still saying nothing.
Zayta continues in a tired monotone while being lightly jostled around... still staring deep into Audrey's eyes.
"Regard your soldiers... as you would your children... And they will follow you into the deepest valleys... Look upon them as your own beloved-"
"-And they will stand by you even unto death." Audrey whispers finishing the quote.
"-Even unto death." Zayta repeats staring at her.
The two lock eyes... sharing an impossible moment.
Silence rests between them as the stray sounds of gunfire and combat fill the space. A single tear drops out of Audrey's eye as she breaks eye contact... getting choked up in the moment. "Turn over." Audrey whimpers cracking her voice... Zayta turns over... giving Audrey a better position to work on her back.
"Zaunya knows who she is Audrey... I... I made sure of it." Zayta says grabbing and clutching onto her iron... gathering herself to move.
"Promise me Audrey... please... make sure she doesn't lose herself." Ending the flashback.
"Don't let them take her." Audrey hears Zayta's voice in her head causing her to whisper it out loud at the same time in a soft tone laying in the dark holding room tied up.
"Don't let them take her..." Audrey whispers again to herself without Zayta's voice in her head... still staring at the concrete wall in a trance.
The heavy, rusted iron door to her room creeks and scrapes open, allowing a dim light to bleed in followed by the sounds of heavy weighted boots approaching her from behind. She's yanked up from behind by her restraints as she grits her teeth... letting out a feral scream.
Brian and the merc continue down the dark hallway by scattered debris and the remnants of countless stories. Passing by a room full of mercs smoking, playing cards, and listening to music. They then pass by another room where Brian sees the Ex-Tyger claw they had the deal with laying lifeless on a table being casually gutted. His various implants and body parts lay scattered amongst excessive blood and decay, loosely organized for packing. A man who was once a trigger pull away from flatlining Brian, now being harvested like an old dairy cow. They make their way down a flight of stairs and down another hallway heading for an exit... as Brian slowly follows behind this huge merc he notices the lack of people the closer they get. A small room sits beside the exit door that leads outside.. ironically enough, this small room seems to be the only area not completely cluttered in shit for some reason like the rest of the building. The merc steps to the side, now standing in front of the entrance to the small room and gesturing Brian to the exit door.
"Right. Fuck off choom." The merc says dismissively.
Just like that, he makes his intention to simply kick Brian out clear.
"Where are the-" Brian asks before hes cut off by the sound of the merc's safety clicking off his Liberty. The merc points it directly at Brian's face.
As the merc opens his mouth to say something, Brian quickly reaches for the gun... forcing it upwards toward the ceiling while simultaneously slamming the merc up against the wall near the doorway with his forearm. The merc attempts to wrestle Brian off of him... greatly underestimating his strength as the two go tumbling into the small room by the exit. Brian, on top of the merc throws an elbow hitting him square in the face, stunning him but throwing himself off balance at the same time. The thick-chromed merc rocked by the heavy blow uses the opportunity to punch Brian and roll over on top of him. The merc's chrome now engaged slowly begins to overpower Brian's grip... squeezing his throat like a vice... pushing the limits of Brian's own cyberware durability as he feels it start to give under the pressure. The merc reaches for his iron only to have the bend of his elbow stepped on with full force torquing it in the opposite direction and snapping it. The merc lets out a loud shriek of pain that blends in well with the rest of the chaos and violence occurring across various rooms in the hotel.
As the merc falls off of Brian, Brian sees the prisoner he helped free jump on top of the merc and begin to unleash a feral beating on him. He grunts and screams along with the full force of his punches while pinning the merc's broken arm to the floor with his knee.. unleashing a flurry of built up anger and personal resentment. Brian quickly staggers to his feet, catching his breath and points the Merc's Liberty at both of them still on the ground. He watches as the prisoner pounds the merc into submission leaving him limp and barely conscious before he takes a quick peek into the dark hallway and sees no one. He looks back to see the prisoner grab the merc by the collar of his jacket with both hands.
"WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE!?" The prisoner yells gritting his teeth before striking the merc again with full force.. causing even more blood to spray out of his badly bruised and bleeding face.
"WHERE!?" The prisoner screams in a grunt punching him again before he can even respond. He lifts him again by his collar giving him a chance to speak but only garbles some inaudible words. The prisoner punches him hard again as a result... causing Brian to roll his eyes continuing to watch.
After he finally lets up... the merc collects himself enough to speak.
"Y-You-... you think we... you think we were just gonna let her go?... You stupid... STUPID FUCKIN' GONK. hahahaaa!!!" The merc shouts coughing up blood... struggling to breathe before smiling through gaps in his bloody teeth.
The prisoner looks into his eyes with fear and disbelief... the merc continues after noticing his reaction.
"Yeah... th-that's right motherfucker. We took her... stripped ALL of her implants... had some pretty decent chrome on her too... But not before we each had a taste of her sweet, delicious-"
The prisoner silences him by punching his fist into his mouth... gradually shoving it further and further down the merc's throat, causing him to open his eyes wide while gagging and shaking uncontrollably. The prisoner progressively shoves his first further down his mouth, past his wrist and halfway up his forearm... cracking teeth and causing the merc to spray blood and vomit up all over his arm... making gruesome gurgling noises. Brian lowers his eyebrows... silently watching the brutal execution. As the merc's body convulses and seizes up, the prisoner grunts with heavy strain, shoving his arm deeper while the light slowly drains from the mercs eyes.
As the merc lay there lifeless... the prisoner yanks his bloody, vomit covered arm out of his throat... tossing a bloody chunk of viscera off to the side and staring deep into the dead mercs eyes... slowing his breathing.
Before allowing himself to become overwhelmed with emotion... he glances back over his shoulder slightly and notices Brian watching on. This causes him to immediately bury them while feeling vulnerable... he shakes some of the blood off of his arm and wipes the rest clean with the dead merc's shirt. He yanks the merc upward, ripping his jacket off and promptly putting it on himself while crouched down. He jostles the corpse around, checking it's pockets as Brian walks over to him. He interrupts the prisoner's looting and uses his foot to kick the dead merc, roll him over onto his stomach revealing his Blood Red, Crimson Nue tucked in the back of his waistband. Brian grabs his iron and racks the slide while the prisoner gets up... choom was built like a basketball player... unreasonably tall and lanky... even slightly taller than Brian. He looks over and tosses some words his way... his speech fast but subtle... with a quick witted monotone.
"We gotta delta. Not keen on bein' here when they find this scop."
"I'm not goin' anywhere. They've still got some of my people."
"Yeah well, all mine are dead by now... the ones that matter at least." The prisoner says raising his eyes brows and tilting his head slightly.
He pauses briefly then glances over at Brian with a nod. "Blix. Carter Blix."
"Brian Varga."
Carter gives Brian a quick once over and sees his very distinguishable face scar on his jawline trailing down his neck to his chest.
"Preem scar. Mantis Blade? Or ya get that from eatin' pussy?" He asks with a bloody toothed grin. The joke catches Brian off guard as he grins, scoffs and chuckles all at the same time.
Carter continues after looking down and thinking a bit... he raises his eyebrows again.
"Well, i'd be a liar if I said I didn't plan on seein' these gonks again real soon." He looks Brian in the eyes. "Lets motor."
Brian steps toward Carter handing him the dead merc's liberty. Cutting to black.